'Continuous registration' workshop concludes today
by Shirwin Campbell
Guyana Chronicle
October 24, 2003
A two-day workshop hosted by GECOM for leaders and general secretaries of political parties, to examine the concept of continuous registration, concludes today.
The venture which is expected to define the concept of continuous registration and foster discussions on its application within the context of Guyana was declared open by the Chairman of GECOM Dr. Steve Surjubally AA.
Dr. Surjubally, addressed the large gathering numbering some 31 participants along with four support staff and two Guest Speakers Mr. Danville Walker, Director of Elections Electoral Office in Jamaica and Mr. Howard Cayenne, Chief Election Officer of Trinidad and Tobago.
Special invitees included U.S. Ambassador Mr. Roland Bullen; Canadian High Commissioner Mr. Serge Marcoux; British High Commissioner Mr. Steve Hiscock; Indian High Commissioner Mr. Avinash Chandragupta; Secretary General of CARICOM Dr. Edwin Carrington, and representatives of the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) and the Inter American Development Bank (IDB).
GECOM chairman, while hailing the workshop as a landmark, noted that it signals the bringing together of all stakeholders involved in the electoral process and representing the electorate in Parliament.
He added that the modus operandi of the two-day session is constructed in such a way to allow optimal participation and free and unfettered discussion and concluded that at the end of the day, whatever decisions are arrived at will be emanating from collective and consensual agreement.
During his presentation he acknowledged the presence of the resource persons from Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, noting that they have been tried, tested and proven worthy being involved in the development and implementation of Continuous Registration in their respective countries.
He explained that they are here to share what can go wrong with corrective CR, what corrective steps can be taken, how to handle the voter education pertaining to CR among other things.
He also publicly expressed gratitude to his predecessor Former Chairman Major General Joseph Singh who advised him before his first day in office that he pursue vigorously the establishment of the Continuous Registration as one of the meaningful steps in ensuring voter participation and in reducing the possibility of voter disenfranchisement.
According to Dr. Surujbally the workshop has its genesis in the history of the elections which has been plagued by dissatisfaction of many over the issues of accountability and integrity in the conduct of the accuracy of the Electoral Roll and the Foreign teams observing elections in Guyana have corroborated shortcomings in the registration process.
He further explained that GECOM 's first step was looking at the current legal frame work associated with Periodic Registration then prepare, discuss and refine a draft document entitled "Proposed Legislative Changes to facilitate a System of Continuous Registration in Guyana".
"The Commissioners reviewed the document and were unanimous in their endorsement of it. Strengthened by this unanimity, we initiated, in June 2002, a consultative process with the major stakeholders" he stated.
However up to September 2002 GECOM did not receive reply to their overtures and sent reminders that promoted a trickle of responses, he reported.
He noted that while every political party represented in parliament agreed with the principal of CR - "Some endorsements were more forceful than others. Obviously we were more attached to the concerns relating to our proposals. It was clear that more dialogue was needed, and that that the Secretariat needed to return to the draftboard"
It was at this juncture that he was attending a workshop hosted by International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) in Mauritius where officials from 36 countries shared their candid experiences with the continuous registration system. "It became clear to me that this was exactly the sort of dialogue and cross fertilization of ideas we needed on the subject here in Guyana - immediately IFES was approached and their response was as immediate as was positive"
Chief Elections Officer Mr. Gocool Boodho provided an in depth overview on the Continuous Registration providing pros and cons on the method.
He pointed out that with the Periodic List the Election Administration devises a new voter's list for each electoral event, without intending necessarily to maintain or update this list for the future.
He noted that such a list is produced immediately preceding the elections, normally within a relatively short time frame. This system is relatively expensive and time consuming, since it requires election administration officials to come in direct contact with all eligible voters before the election.
The continuous list, he explained allows the electoral register to be maintained and continually updated by the election administration. This system requires an appropriate infrastructure to maintain the list. Typically this requires adding the name and other relevant information for those who are satisfying eligibility requirements and deleting the names of those who no longer meet eligibility requirements example death - change of residency.
"With this there is no need to conduct a final registration effort immediately preceding an election, as is normally the case with the periodic list" Mr. Boodoo also noted.